As the views of society toward children evolved, the types of records and where these records might be located changed.

About the Presenter

Jeanne Larzalere Bloom, CG, is past president of BCG and a full-time professional researcher specializing in Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, forensic genealogy, problem solving, and multi-generational family histories. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a second-year certificate from the University of Chicago's publishing program. Her interest in genealogy began much earlier. Rather than having her grandmother read her a story before naptime, Jeanne would ask to hear a story about when she was a little girl.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars provides genealogy education where-you-are through live and recorded online webinars and videos. Learn from the best instructors in genealogy including Thomas MacEntee, Judy Russell, J. Mark Lowe, Lisa Louise Cooke, Megan Smolenyak, Tom Jones, and many more. Learn at your convenience. On-demand classes are available 24 hours a day! All you need is a computer or mobile device with an Internet connection.

Subscribe today and get access to this BONUS members-only webinar AND all of this:

All 765 classes in the library (1015 hours of quality genealogy education)

Let me just start off by admitting that I’m in love with the New York Public Library Digital Collections. Why? Because it’s in these web pages that you can find books, ephemera, maps, and images that would otherwise not be easily available. Like an online museum, I could get lost in studying these digitized items (don’t even get me started on Anna Atkin’s Photographs Of British Algae ) that help us better understand history and ultimately our ancestors.

The New York Public Library’s Digital Collections is a “living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.” For the family historian it is a place to discover materials to research your ancestor as well as add social history context. In some cases these items are grouped into a “collection” and in others they are just solitarily digitized items just waiting to be discovered. This collection of over 746,000 items is huge in scope and depth but the following items from the collection give you an idea of its value.

New York City Directories

New York City Directories found in the Digital Collections span the years 1786 to 1934. These are digitized books and the Digital Collection's viewer allows you to page through the book, zoom, rotate, and even print. Each book’s page includes card catalog information as well as links to other websites with the same digitized content (such as the website Digital Public Library of America).

Yizkor Book Collection

The genealogically rich memorial books in the Yizkor Book Collection document communities destroyed in the Holocaust. “Most often privately published and compiled through the collective efforts of former community residents, they describe daily life through essays and photographs and memorialize murdered residents.” The Yizkor Book Collection’s About information states that the New York Public Library's holdings include about 730 books but fewer that number can be found in this digitized collection. Please note that these books are in Hebrew or Yiddish.

Summer Excursions for 1874

Ok, this book isn’t for everyone but I wanted to mention it because it is so unique and it’s a perfect example of what social history can be found in the Digital Collections. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company’s Summer Excursion Routes for 1874 appears to be incomplete (the introduction states that the book includes 300 routes) on the website but this travel brochure gives us a peek at what ephemera our ancestors may have had access to and, those with the funds, may have influenced them. We often think about our ancestor’s immigration or migration but don’t consider other travels that they could have taken including those to visit family or just for a holiday. As the introduction to this pamphlet concludes, "A glance through its pages cannot prove uninteresting, and may serve to guide summer travelers into pleasant, interesting, and profitable channels.”

Of course you knew I couldn’t write about a website without pointing out what food history is available! The Digital Collections actually has more than one menu collection but the largest is the Buttolph Collection of Menus which has almost 19,000 menus. “The menu collection originated through the energetic efforts of Miss Frank E. Buttolph (1850-1924), a somewhat mysterious and passionate figure, whose mission in life was to collect menus. In 1899, she offered to donate her existing collection to the Library -- and to keep collecting on the Library's behalf” which she did until her death in 1924, amassing over 25,000 menus (not all have been digitized).

So why is this collection important for family history? Menus provide us information about what foods were eaten during a specific place and time, prices, as well as food availability. Food history is an important part of family history and menus can provide some valuable information in that pursuit.

747,888 and Counting

No blog post could list every collection from the New York Public Library Digital Collections that I love. My hope is to just to give you a taste of what’s available. Don’t ignore this digital gallery because you don’t have New York ancestors. Yes, there are New York specific items but there’s so much more than that including North American maps, US postcards, and social history items that can help you better understand your ancestor’s life.

The recording of today's webinar, "Importance of Newspapers for family research” by Daniel Horowitz is now available to view at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.comfor free for a limited time.

Webinar Description

Newspapers are a key tool to get information about families in all kind of announcements; but not everybody knows how and where to access them. But the most recent revolution in newspaper technology was done with MyHeritage's Record Matching new technology, designed to automatically find historical records for families in newspapers, comparing important meta-data like places and dates. Learn how this technology works and how it benefits the users and the newspapers as well.

View the Recording at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

If you could not make it to the live event or just want to watch it again, the 1 hour 29 minute recording of "Importance of Newspapers for family research” is now available to view in our webinar library for free for a limited time. Or watch it at your convenience with an annual or monthly webinar membership.

Tuesday's Tips provide brief how-to's to help you learn to use the Legacy Family Tree software with new tricks and techniques.

Batch Printing (Beginner)

There are two reports in Legacy that will allow you to "batch print," the Family Group Report and the Individual Chart Report.

Go to Reports > Family Group. You can work on either report from this screen but for now leave it on the Family tab.

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Click the Record Selection button at the bottom of the screen and you will get this dialog box:

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Look at all of the choices you have! You can print groups of reports based on Focus Groups, Individual Tags, Marriage Tags or all of the Individuals in your file. If you switch to the Individual Chart Report the Record Selection screen looks slightly different.

(click image to enlarge)

Some people like to batch print all of their Family Group Reports or their Individual Chart Reports to add to their paper filing system. For example, if you have file folders set up for your family groups you might want to add their Family Group Report to the front of each folder. Same thing if you have file folders for all of your individuals. Other people like to print these out and keep them in a binder so that family members can browse through them. If you have a group of tagged individuals that you are working with you can print these out as worksheets, You can write on and then later transfer the information to Legacy.

For video tech tips check out the Legacy Quick Tips page. These short videos will make it easy for you to learn all sort of fun and interesting ways to look at your genealogy research.

Michele Simmons Lewis, CG® is part of the Legacy Family Tree team at MyHeritage. She handles the enhancement suggestions that come in from our users as well as writing for Legacy News. You can usually find her hanging out on the Legacy User Group Facebook page answering questions and posting tips.

Newspapers are a key tool to get information about families in all kind of announcements; but not everybody knows how and where to access them. But the most recent revolution in newspaper technology was done with MyHeritage's Record Matching new technology, designed to automatically find historical records for families in newspapers, comparing important meta-data like places and dates. Learn how this technology works and how it benefits the users and the newspapers as well.

Join us, MyHeritage, and Daniel Horowitz for the live webinar Tuesday, September 25, 2018 at 2pm Eastern U.S. Register today to reserve your virtual seat. Registration is free but space is limited to the first 1,000 people to join that day. When you join, if you receive a message that the webinar is full, you know we've reached the 1,000 limit, so we invite you to view the recording which should be published to the webinar archives within an hour or two of the event's conclusion.

No worries. Its recording will be available for a limited time. Webinar Subscribers have unlimited access to all webinar recordings for the duration of their membership.

About the presenter

MyHeritage Chief Genealogist, Daniel Horowitz provides key contributions in the product development, customer support and public affairs areas. He holds board level positions at the Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA) and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) among others. Daniel was the teacher and study guide editor for 15 years, of the family history project "Searching for My Roots" in Venezuela.

Add it to your Google Calendar

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Every Friday we're pleased to offer Legacy Family Tree Webinar subscribers a new bonus webinar just for them! This Friday enjoy "Finding Kentucky Land: Grants, Deeds and the Missing Pieces" by J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA. If you're not a member, remember the webinar previews are always free.

Finding Kentucky Land: Grants, Deeds and the Missing Pieces

Discover the step-by-step process of grants, entrys, surveys, processions and deeds for Virginia and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Learn how and where to find these items to further your research, and how to find those missing pieces.

About the Presenter

J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA is a full-time professional genealogist, author, and lecturer. While sharing personal experiences that help beginning and experienced researchers gain new skills and insights for research, he specializes in original records and manuscripts throughout the South. Mark lives in Robertson County, Tennessee that lies in northern Middle Tennessee along the Kentucky border.

Lowe also serves as the Course Coordinator for 'Research in the South' at IGHR (Samford University), for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) and is Director of the Regional In-depth Genealogical Studies Alliance (RIGS Alliance), learning sessions and hands-on research focusing on original documents and manuscripts at regional archives. Mark has worked on several genealogical television series including African American Lives 2, Who Do You Think You Are? and UnXplained Events.

Mark has published in the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly (APGQ), National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ), the Genealogical Speakers' Guild SPEAK!, The Longhunter (So. Ky. Genealogical Society), The Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society Quarterlyand other local society publications. His own publications include Robertson County Tennessee Marriage Book 2 1859-1873. He formerly was the President of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), President for the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), and Vice President of the Genealogical Speakers Guild (GSG). He is the former President of the Southern Kentucky Genealogical Society. Mark is a Certified Genealogist and a Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Society, and was awarded the Graham T. Smallwood award by the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars provides genealogy education where-you-are through live and recorded online webinars and videos. Learn from the best instructors in genealogy including Thomas MacEntee, Judy Russell, J. Mark Lowe, Lisa Louise Cooke, Megan Smolenyak, Tom Jones, and many more. Learn at your convenience. On-demand classes are available 24 hours a day! All you need is a computer or mobile device with an Internet connection.

Subscribe today and get access to this BONUS members-only webinar AND all of this:

All 763 classes in the library (1013 hours of quality genealogy education)

Everyone loves a shortcut, right? Whether it’s a shorter way to get home from work, an easy way to pay bills, or just a simpler way to get a dreaded task accomplished, shortcuts are great. The same is true for using the computer. Anything that can be done quicker and with ease gives us more time to research our family history!

A keyboard shortcut is a series of one or more keys that “invokes a command that would otherwise be accessible only through a menu, a mouse, or an aspect of the user interface.”[1] Keyboard shortcuts are available for software programs as well as your Internet browser. You could find dozens or more shortcuts that exist for all the programs you use. I don’t use every keyboard shortcut available but there are a few that I consistently use that make my life a little easier.

Here are a few of my favorites when using Microsoft Word but keep in mind that they may work with other software programs and the Internet as well:

CTRL and C , CTRL and V, and CTRL and X: These are the commands to copy, paste, and cut. Probably the more well-known of the keyboard shortcuts, I use these three on a daily basis. Highlight the text you want to copy or cut and then use CTRL and V to paste it wherever you want it to go. For me, I use this often when I decide that a sentence or a paragraph I just wrote in Microsoft Word should either be deleted or moved elsewhere in the document. Or when I want to copy text and insert it into another program. A great time saver when you are searching the Internet.

Shift and F4: This is probably my biggest time saver when looking at a website or a document and I’m searching for a specific word or phrase. Hold the Shift key and then press the F4 key to open a Find box. This box, will appear at the top right of the website you’re searching and allows you to search on a specific word or phrase. It’s perfect when searching a web page for a specific surname. I find this function saves me a ton of time and effort. If that doesn't work try the alternativeto this, CTRL key and F.

CTRL and S: Ok, who hasn’t been typing away happily and something goes wrong like the electricity unexpectedly goes out or the cat hits your keyboard and everything you just worked on suddenly vanishes? Use CTRL and S to save periodically. Anytime I have to get up and interrupt what I’m doing I hit CTRL S just to be safe.

CTRL and P: There’s no easier way to print than hitting CTRL and P. Whether in Word or on the Internet, a printer dialogue box comes up and you are ready to print. I even use this command when I want to save something as a PDF since one of the choices in my print command box is to save a document as a PDF. Saving as a PDF is perfect when I run out of ink, paper, or am not quite ready to print out that document.

Wait There’s More!

There’s no way I could list every possible keyboard shortcut that exists for your favorite software, browser, or websites. Did you know that even Twitter has a list of keyboard shortcuts? To find them go to your Twitter account and in the top right side you will see your photo, click on that and a drop-down menu will appear with a link to “Keyboard shortcuts.”

Do you have some keyboard shortcuts you use? Seek out the shortcuts for the website, software, or browser you use the most and start using some of those shortcuts to make the most of your time on the computer.

[1] "Keyboard Shortcuts and System Commands for Popular Programs," TurboFuture (https://turbofuture.com/computers/keyboard-shortcut-keys: accessed 9 September 2018).

The recording of today's webinar, "25 Simple Research Hacks Every Genealogist Should Know” by Lisa Alzo is now available to view at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.comfor free for a limited time.

Webinar Description

Whether you are searching online databases, trying to obtain information from an uncooperative cousin, or need to streamline your research workflow, this webinar will outline 25 simple hacks you can use to get more genealogy done in less time!

View the Recording at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

If you could not make it to the live event or just want to watch it again, the 1 hour 29 minute recording of "25 Simple Research Hacks Every Genealogist Should Know” is now available to view in our webinar library for free for a limited time. Or watch it at your convenience with an annual or monthly webinar membership.

The recording of today's BCG webinar, "Using Lists to Find Proof” by Cari Taplin, CG is now available to view at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com/BCGfor free for a limited time.

Webinar Description

Genealogists examine lists nearly every time we conduct research, whether it be in the form of censuses, tax lists, directories, petitions, and hundreds of others. The Genealogical Proof Standard requires reasonably exhaustive research, analysis and corroboration of evidence. This presentation will demonstrate how lists can be used to meet those standards, and offers methods and tips for examining lists as a tool for proving the identity of our ancestors.

View the Recording at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

If you could not make it to the live event or just want to watch it again, the 1 hour 8 minute recording of "Using Lists to Find Proof” is now available to view in our webinar library for free for a limited time. Or watch it at your convenience with an annual or monthly webinar membership.

Top genealogists Jeanne Larzalere Bloom, Elissa Scalise Powell, Rebecca Whitman Koford, Thomas W. Jones, and Judy G. Russell will present five one-hour lectures held at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City Friday, 19 October 2018 between 9 AM and 4:30 PM mountain U.S. time. The lectures are free and open to the public (registration is not required), and sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. All will be broadcast online (free registration is required, see below). The board is an independent certifying body and author of the updated 2014 Genealogy Standards. The lecture series, called the Reisinger Lectures, is named in honor of the late Joy Reisinger, former BCG Vice President and Certified Genealogist Emeritus.

“Every October BCG presents a series of lectures at the Family History Library given by some of the most distinguished genealogists in our field," said President Rick Sayre, CG, CGL. “This year they are also available online. We do this to educate genealogists at all levels and to promote uniform standards of competence and ethics.”

For questions or more information contact office@BCGcertification.org.

Register for the Online Broadcasts

All five classes will be broadcast online by BCG's webinar partner, Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Visit www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com/BCG to sign up individually (free), or click here to sign up for multiple classes at once.

Certified Genealogist is a trademark and CG is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board-certified associates after periodic competency evaluations. The Board name is registered USP&TO.